I'm a Rose
by Megan Hermione Lovegood
Summary: Sequel to 'A dandelion amongst the roses'. Izzy Cullen-Black has a happy life with her adoptive parents, Chris and Jacob Black. But what will happen when her birth father comes back into the picture? AU
1. Chapter 1

_**OK, due to positive reactions, I decided to publish the sequel a lot earlier than planned. For those of you unfamiliar with my story, 'A Dandelion Amongst The Roses,' this is the sequel. You might want to read it, to understand what's going on.**_

_**Anyway, for those of you who have read it, this will be a little different; instead of being from Chris's point of view, it'll be from Izzy's. Also, it takes place several years after, so Izzy is physically ten. I'll be keeping Renesmee's basic personality traits for Izzy, but she'll be different from her as well.**_

_**One more thing: StephanieJCullen, thanks for giving me the motivation to write this. You favourited and followed, you left the most reviews, and for that, I dedicate this to you.**_

_'I am a rose, by Christina Abigail Black (neé Swan)._

_I used to think I was a mere dandelion._

_When I looked in the mirror, I just wanted to cry._

_I never thought I'd blossom_

_Into the rose I wished to be._

_I thought I'd always be a dandelion,_

_Just a common weed._

_But then, it happened._

_I found my happiness._

_I found it in him,_

_The love of my life._

_I found it in her,_

_My pride and joy._

_I would not be here today_

_Without them by my side._

_I would still be_

_A dandelion amongst the roses._

_Just an ugly pest._

_But with them,_

_I blossomed._

_I am a rose._

_Not a dandelion._

_Not a weed._

_A beautiful flower._

_I think I always have been._

_I just needed to realise it._

_I am a rose.'_

Smiling ruefully, I folded the piece of paper carefully and put it back in Mom's desk drawer.

'Izzy, darling!' Mom called to me. 'Lunch is ready!'

Grinning, I pulled open the door and ran down the stairs into the kitchen, where Mom was at the stove, cooking lunch for me and my dad. It's weird. Being a vampire, my mom doesn't eat; but she still loves to cook. The true definition of irony.

Dad walked in through the back door, wearing nothing but a pair of jean shorts. Nothing new there, then.

'Hello, ladies!' he said brightly. 'Something smells good, Chris. What is it?'

'Ridiculously rare steak.' she announced, bringing the plates over to the dining table. 'Your favourite.'

'Gorgeous!' Dad said, licking his lips and staring at the inhumanly large hunk of raw animal carcass in front of him.

Mom raised an eyebrow, grinning at him. 'Me, or the steak?'

Dad brought his hand to his chin, pretending to think it over. 'Hmmm...I like both.' he said, pulling Mom in for a kiss.

I cleared my throat loudly. Ever since Mom and Dad got married, about a year ago, they've been having public displays of affection all over the place. It's cute, but sickening at the same time.

'Oh, Belle!' cried Dad, pretending to be in shock. 'I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when Chris just _jumped _on me and - '

'Settle down, Jake!' Mom laughed, mock-punching him in the shoulder.

'Ow!' he moaned, grimacing and rubbing his arm where she hit him. 'Look, I know I'm a werewolf, and I have tough skin and all that, but you still have fists of granite, you know!'

Mom rolled her eyes. 'Faker.' she muttered. 'Izabelle Christine Cullen-Black, please never grow up to be like your father.'

'I won't, Mom.' I laughed. 'Dad, can we go hunting later?'

'Of course, Izzy baby.' Dad said, shoving the last of his steak into his mouth. I rolled my eyes at him, then proceeded to shove my own much smaller steak into my mouth, smearing blood all over my face.

'You have the table manners of a pig, Izzy.' said Mom, handing me a cloth and trying to look stern, but failing miserably.

I grinned up at her, wiping blood from my face. 'I know, Mom.'

Dad and I got up from the table, and were about to leave the house when my Aunt Rosalie entered the house.

Mom dropped the plates and growled at her. Dad looked like he would murder somebody. I wasn't too happy myself - Mom had told me that Rosalie was responsible for my birth mother's death. Rosalie's not supposed to come anywhere near our family, so seeing her again isn't exactly a comfort.

'Get out of here, Hale, before I rip your head off and burn your body.' Mom said savagely.

Rosalie held up her hands in surrender. 'Look, Chris, Jacob, I'm not here to pick a fight. I'm here to bring a message.'

Mom looked at her suspiciously. 'What kind of message?'

'Alice had a vision. It's Edward. He's coming back.'


	2. Chapter 2

'You're lying.' Mom said. 'Get out of my house _now, _before I call the police and get your pretty little ass landed in jail. Charlie's still not very fond of you.'

'I'm not lying!' Rosalie pleaded. 'Chris, I know I've done bad things in the past, but can't we look past that? I mean, sure, I _encouraged _Bella, but she made her own choice! And look! You got a daughter out of it! Surely you're not unhappy about Izzy, are - '

'GET OUT!' Mom screamed, picking the frying pan up off the stove and hurling it straight at Rosalie's face. I gasped, covering my face with my hands. A horrible shattering noise filled the room.

'Get out,' Mom said again, much quieter now. I peeped out from between my fingers cautiously, only to see my mom, my strong, brave, beautiful mother slide down onto the floor like a broken doll, hiding her face and sobbing.

'Chris, I'm sorry!' Rosalie cried, sounding near tears herself. 'I didn't mean for Bella to die, I swear!'

'You're lying!' Mom gasped, looking up. Her hair was all over her face in a bird's nest and her eyes were glowing dangerously with anger. They were black, I realised. When Mom's really angry, she's scary enough. But combine that with hunger, and you're a dead man.

'You wanted her dead, you wanted her dead so you could have Izzy!' Mom accused. 'You were willing to kill an innocent young woman, break your brothers heart and tear your family to pieces, just so you could take her child! But even _that _failed! Now, GET OUT!'

Rosalie opened her mouth again to say something, but then Dad put one arm around Mom, one arm around me, and quelled her with a look.

'Just go away, Rosalie,' he said. 'Haven't you done enough?'

Rosalie closed her mouth, nodded sadly, and turned towards the door. When she reached it, she turned to us and said, 'You don't have to believe me. But he is coming back. Please, believe me. I just wanted you to know.'

With that, she turned around and sped off through the forest.

I turned to Mom. I was bursting with questions. Who was Bella? Was she my birth mother? And how did Mom know her? And who was Edward? Was he my father - the vampire with red hair I remembered from my birth visions? All these questions and more tumbled from my mouth, but Mom looked too stricken to answer.

Finally Dad said, 'Izzy, your mother's had a lot of emotional strain put on her just now. Please, just go and play in your room.'

'But Dad - '

Dad held up his hand, ordering me to be quiet. I stormed huffily from the room, wanting my questions to be answered. I'm a very inquisitive person - I can't be kept in the dark. I _need _to know these things.

I had absolutely no intention of going up to my room. Instead, I continued down the hall into Mom and Dad's bedroom. I was going to get my questions answered, whether my parents liked it or not.

I grabbed the handle of their bedroom door and pulled it slowly and cautiously, hoping they wouldn't hear. I stepped into the room, nimbly jumping over the creaky floorboard and onto their bed.

I rolled over onto my stomach and reached under the bed, groping around for something. Finally, my fingers closed over the cardboard box. Grinning, I pulled it out, placed it in front of me and opened it.

It was empty.

Cursing under my breath, I put the box back under the bed and climbed up, wondering if they could have moved it to the closet.

Suddenly, I heard a whisper from the window.

'Psst! Izzy!'

I turned around, and my eyes widened. I was going to scream, but fingers closed themselves over my mouth, and I couldn't make a sound.

_**Aagh! Cliffhanger! Sorry for the short chapter, but I don't have time to write more than this. Anyway, to make up for that, I'll update very soon, either tomorrow or on Sunday.**_

_**And please: don't forget to review!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**OK, I'm scum. Lying scum. There's no excuse - I lied about updating soon. That's a bad thing to do, full freaking stop. All I can say is, I'm very, very sorry.**_

'What the - '

'Shh!'

I tried to bite the fingers over my mouth, but they were so hard I nearly broke a tooth. A vampire.

'Who are you?!' I mumbled through the fingers. The woman who had grabbed me was actually shorter than I was, but still very strong. She was unfamiliar, a vampire with a waifish figure and black pixie cut.

The woman spun me around to face her with one hand, while still keeping one over my mouth.

'I'm Alice, Alice Cullen,' she said. 'You aunt, in other words.'

Cullen. First Rosalie, now an unfamiliar member of The Family That Shall Not Be Named? What next?!

'Take your hands off me!' I mumbled through her fingers. She reluctantly released me.

'What do you want?!' I demanded. 'My parents don't want Cullens in their house!'

'I guess I can understand that,' said Alice, 'After what happened to your Mom, but I thought Chris and I were - '

'My mom?' I asked. 'What do you know about my Mom?'

Alice looked dumbfounded. 'You mean they never told you?'

'About _what?!'_

Alice put her arm around me and brought me over to Mom and Dad's bed, which we sat down on.

'Your mother, Izzy,' Alice began, 'Was Bella Swan, your adoptive Mom's twin sister. She was human. Your father was Edward Cullen, a vampire, and my adoptive brother. Bella died whilst giving birth to you, and your father ran away. There were too many reminders of his dead wife here, so he just . . . left.'

'Without me?' I whispered.

Alice nodded. 'Look, Izzy, I'm sure he loved you very much. But he didn't think he was fit to look after a child, especially after what had happened to Bella. So he left you with Bella's sister, Chris, and their friend Jacob Black, a werewolf.'

So this was my origin story. My real mother had died in childbirth, my real father had abandoned me and run away. It actually wasn't that different to the stories of a lot of children - in fact, my friend Lee's cousin had had the same thing happen to her.

You'd expect me to be angry, sad, scared, wouldn't you? I even expected myself to feel _something. _But strangely, I wasn't affected at all. I was happy with Chris and Jacob, who, even if they had been clear from the start that I was adopted, felt like real parents to me. They loved me, and I loved them. That was all that mattered.

Then, I remembered what Rosalie said. About someone named "Alice" having a vision of someone named "Edward" coming back.

'My father - Edward - is coming back?' I asked.

'As far as I could see, yes,' said Alice. 'Just before he left, he promised Chris that he would be back some day. I guess that day is today.'

I felt sick. I didn't want this strange man coming here and wrecking my life! I loved my home, I loved my parents, and I loved my school friends. I was able to go to school now, because Carlisle - the only member of the Olympic Coven we were still in contact with - had used his centuries as a medical scientist to find a cure to my rapid growth process. Now, I would age like a normal child up until I turned seventeen, when the process would stop. I wasn't going to let anybody, blood relative or not, take that from me!

'Is he going to take me away?' I asked Alice. Her eyes flickered, and I knew that she wasn't going to tell me.

Before she could react, I extended my hand and placed it on her cheek. Now, I had often considered using this on my parents, but then decided that I wasn't going to break their trust like that. Random strangers who broke into my house, however, were a different story.

Once my hand made contact with her skin, I saw what she could see. I saw a vampire - clearly a vampire, as his skin was sparkling from the light of the sun - climbing out of the ocean, water dripping from every inch of him. He was on La Push beach - about a twenty minute walk away. I had gone on trips with Mom before, and she goes about 80MPH. Plus, she's _slower _than most vampires. He would probably be knocking on our door within the minute.

I clung to Alice, suddenly desperate. 'Don't let him come here!' I pleaded. 'Stall him, stop him, tell him we live somewhere else - just don't let him come here!'

Alice patted me. 'OK, kid. For you.'

With that, she jumped back out the window and raced through the forest. I, meanwhile, fell on my hands and knees and threw up my steak all over the rug.


End file.
